“I am doing a new thing, now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” I will make a way in the wilderness.” Isaiah 43:19.
My husband Buz and I have four fabulous grandchildren. If you are a parent or a grandparent you know the feeling of loving your children or grandchildren more than you could ever express. You don’t understand it until you experience it!
Our family is close and we spend most of our free time together doing the regular ‘living life’ things. We go to our grandchildren’s sports games to cheer them on, we eat Sunday dinner together, and as all good grandparents do, we babysit. Both Buz and I take our responsibility very seriously to show Jesus to these little ones. We pray with them, tell them how Jesus has answered our prayers to build faith into them.
When our daughter and son-in-law announced they would be moving to a different state seven hours away, we were excited for them and devastated at the same time. My daughter is a homebody and she is close to her family. We knew moving would be tough for her and it was. The grandchildren who were used to sleeping over every Friday night were upset. They didn’t want to leave what was familiar and safe. To say it was an adjustment for them is an understatement.
My daughter left her golden retriever with us. Every morning ‘Winger’ and I walked a path into our woods. Every evening Buz would walk Winger on this same path, day after day.
One particular snowy morning I was feeling sorry for myself. One grandchild had called me crying and asked me to come get him. He missed us and our home. There were other issues as well that were making my heart break. As I walked through a foot of snow I was crying out to God to let me know that He knew where my grandchildren were. I was verbally begging him to let me know that he knew all about this little boy’s heartache and mine too. I am so glad no one heard me that morning. I sounded like a lunatic crying out to God.
In just a moment or two, my daughter’s dog ‘Winger’ started digging in that foot of snow. Digging, digging, digging, all the time waving his tail. I waited for him to pop up with a mouse or some other poor critter. Instead, he popped up with our youngest granddaughter’s pacifier! There it was a turquoise blue baby pacifier! My heart stopped. As clear as a bell, I heard God say to me, “Enough, all has been heard! I know exactly where your Grandchildren are.”
Buz and I had walked this dog down that same path, morning and night, for 3 months. Yet, here is the deepest of snow, when I was crying out to God for comfort and asking God if he knew where my grandchildren were, he sent me a pacifier. I knew in my heart God was saying “I have them in the palm of my hand”. “This pacifier has been here all along, and today, in this deep snow, it was found and returned to you.”
God cared about the prayer of a silly grandma, standing in the snow, begging God for comfort, and he sent a pacifier. The Bible verses I have memorized stuck in my head flooded my soul.
If you are living through a discouraging day or period, if you wonder if God is still there, be assured, God is there watching over you. We don’t understand His ways. We don’t understand the suffering that we face and the suffering our love ones face, but God IS there. When we cry out, God hears us. He tells us, “All has been heard”. Ecc. 12:13 He is molding us to his image. “I am doing a new thing, now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” “I will make a way in the wilderness.” Isaiah 43:19.
Hold on to your knowledge that God cares for you. Don’ be deceived by a lie of Satan that God has forgotten you. He’s alive and well. That is the message I received on that snowy day. God is alive and well and working on our behalf to mold us into his image. He cares about our sorrows and he won’t leave us alone in the wilderness. He knows where we are, he knows where our loved ones are. He is watching over all of us and working to mold us into his image. Hold on folks, joy does come in the morning.
– Karen